Closing the Gap

When we understand what brought us to where we are today, we can decide where to go from here. In this episode, co-hosts Tania Roa + Adriana Maria Medina discuss social justice events in 2023 that led to collective action. As we reflect, we can learn from them and determine our priorities for 2024. It’s a new year, but our struggles are the same.

*Please note: some of the events we discuss include violence, police brutality, and Palestine.

Resources for events mentioned in this episode, and organizations supporting the causes mentioned, are below. Also, as always, scroll to find definitions. 

U.S. News

Chi Bailey, lover of God and high quality clothing, expresses his spirituality and fashion taste through his brand Chi qc™. All pieces are upcycled, hand crafted, and sweatshop free, speaking out against the harmful impacts of fast fashion on people and the planet. Low quality clothes produced in mass volumes degrade the environment, mistreat garment workers, and encourage consumers to buy more clothes than they need. Chi shows us another way of living that respects God’s creation. 

Chi is of African and Korean descent, and his cultural upbringing also plays a role in his creativity. Chi qc™ inspires us to be more childlike through its Born Again Garments that incorporates colorful, playful designs with deep storytelling.

Closing the Gap recognizes that Charlotte, North Carolina is unceded land of the Cheraw Indigenous people. 

Support Chi qc™

Closing the Gap co-hosts Tania Roa and Adriana Medina welcome you back to the podcast with a new season: Season 2. To start off the season, Tania discusses her summer living in Colombia and Adriana shares her first impressions of her new home in New York City, unceded land of the Lenape or Lenapehoking people.

Some themes arose from these major moves including authenticity, leaning into change, and being an active participant in one's community.

Resources

It's our last episode of Season 1! Tania & Adriana take time to reflect on the past season and celebrate the beautiful, progress-oriented community we've all built - that includes you! We then discuss something very close to our hearts: what it's like to live in the United States when you lack certain powers or privileges, and when you possess others. The mixed emotions including frustration, despair, and the urge to take action are ones many people experience. By sharing our perspectives, we hope to inspire you to share your story. It's time for us minorities, or marginalized/underrepresented people, to take up space and show up for our communities.

Meet our first international guest: Heizal Patricia Nagginda of Uganda. Heizal founded Climate Operation to create a place where all people can learn about the climate crisis, how it impacts them, and what they can do to address it. Climate Operation began as a regional hub and is now an international space that has reached thousands of people. To promote creativity and accessibility, Climate Operation uses different mediums to get the message across, including tool kits and comic books. In all of her work, Heizal highlights the connections between climate and social justice, such as the effects weather extremes have on people who contributed the least to greenhouse gas emissions, yet are feeling the worst impacts of climate change.

Climate Operation:

Gentrification impacts communities around the world. It can lead to increased cost of living, displacement of long-term residents, and discriminatory behavior. We analyze gentrification trends in México City, Puerto Vallarta, and California and use them as examples of a larger issue. To allocate resources fairly, policies and practices should be created and implemented by local communities rather than foreign investors, who tend to prioritize profit over people's well-being. As travelers and as immigrants, we acknowledge that by us moving to new areas we influence the local culture, and we can do so in a way without uprooting the lives of those who were there before us. ("Gente" means "people" in Spanish)

At Closing the Gap we acknowledge that the above-mentioned places lie on Indigenous land.

Speak up for Iran:

Students Ahsha Jones and Chloe Serrano founded Melanated Youth, a BIPOC youth-led coalition that uplifts members of the community who need it most. The coalition provides resources and organizes demonstrations to end inequality on all fronts through mutual aids, protests, and discourse. Ahsha and Chloe are based in Orange County, California, but they plan to expand the coalition's impact across the nation. This action-led group relies on the support of fellow community members who volunteer, donate, or participate in Melanated Youth's events. Their anti-oppression efforts are "by the people, for the people."

Melanated Youth and Closing the Gap acknowledge that Orange County lies on unceded Tongva land.

Melanated Youth Resources:

Sergio Maldonado is a Counseling Psychology Ph.D. student at Purdue University from Pomona, California. His research examines therapeutic experiences of the incarcerated and formerly incarcerated community to find culturally-relevant practices that provide support during life after incarceration. As a therapist in training, Sergio has worked with people from a variety of backgrounds, including rural communities, refugees, and factory workers. Sergio advocates for more accessibility to therapy, especially for low-income and other underserved communities, and speaks out against practices in the psychological field that perpetuate biases and prevent therapists from fully serving their clients.

Sergio’s Work:

People of Latin American descent can identify as Hispanic, Latino/a, Latinx, Latine, or Chicano/a/x. Others prefer to identify as Indigenous as a way to reclaim their roots. Others identify according to their nationality(ies), such as Colombian-American or Mexican-American, to speak out against terms that group multiple countries and cultures together. Identifying under multiple hierarchical systems, and according to two or more different cultures, can be confusing, but also powering. Many of these terms aren't perfect, but they all express the desire for members of the Latin diaspora to organize, mobilize, and advocate for their rights. When we learn about the history of each term, we grow appreciation and understanding for the struggle to find community and belonging.

Resources:

Meet Veronica Castillo and Miguel Venegas of Our Paper Trails. Four years ago, this power couple decided to transform their lifestyle and live in a van to reach their traveling and financial goals (they just paid off their student loans - woot woot!). 

Joining the vanlife and nomadic communities changed how Vero & Miguel approach life choices, from what they purchase to how they become better allies. Even in the outdoors, representation, inclusivity, and diversity is important to ensure that everyone feels safe and welcome. Vero & Miguel are transparent about their struggles with vanlife, how the nomadic community only recently began embracing more diversity, and their undeterred dedication to get out on the road. Although it hasn't always been easy, Our Paper Trails proves we can all fulfill our dreams with the right amount of risk, effort, and support. 

Follow Our Paper Trails:

Pride month is every month! Sabine Maxine Lopez, founder of A Tribe Called Queer, discusses how her Instagram page grew to a brand and now a nonprofit organization. This platform creates and shares resources for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and LGBTQIA+ (see definition below) communities including mental health services, book clubs, clothing swaps, legal advice, wellness events, and much more. As a small team, Sabine and Melba are limited in their reach and resource offerings. To grow its team and impact, A Tribe Called Queer needs funding, like so many other nonprofits, and that's where the power of community comes in. Support this incredible organization and their life-changing work today by giving them a follow, donating to their fundraiser, and getting involved (links below!). 

A Tribe Called Queer Links:

American scholar and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality" in 1989 as a way to describe what Black women are subjected to. Recently, this theory has received mainstream attention as people from other marginalized communities, from Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and people who identify as LGBTQ+, are using it to describe what they experience. In this episode, we discuss why we appreciate this term and often use it to discuss social justice issues, how it has helped us see the world differently, and its contribution to our own lives. 

Resources:

Meet Warren "Dzign" Dickson, hip hop artist from Watts, California who combines his love for music, community, and the environment through education and advocacy. Warren highlights the connections between different social causes, specifically, racial justice, wildlife conservation, and environmental protection, to emphasize the need for all of us to join together to create change. As someone who has witnessed local wildlife struggle to adapt to urban areas, and communities of color lack the resources they need to survive and thrive, Warren knows firsthand the urgency of addressing environmental and social causes simultaneously. Through his music, Warren uses hip hop culture as a way to relate to others while spreading awareness for all of the above.

Warren's Work:

In light of Russia's attack on Ukraine, Tania & Adriana discuss the impacts war has on citizens. Ukraine is gaining a lot of international attention, and while we are glad the media and governments are responding to this attack, we can't help but question why this situation is receiving such rapid responses. Refugees in other countries, including Syria, Yemen, and Afghanistan, have also needed international help for years, and have yet to receive the same amount of aid as Ukrainians did in a matter of days. By addressing these unfair international policies, and by advocating for all people forced to flee their homes, we hope to spread compassion and understanding. 

Organizations to support:

Hi everyone! Welcome to our first episode! Meet your hosts Tania and Adriana. We talk about our Latinx backgrounds, immigrant parents, and what inspired us to create this podcast on Closing the Gap(s) in society through social justice, healing, and taking action.